It's Christmas
by hawkeyethehotguy
Summary: A short, fluffy pepperony ficlet on Christmas morning.


**Merry Christmas! In light of the occasion, I whipped up this short bit of fluff last night when I couldn't sleep. Hope you like it!**

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Daylight dawned on Christmas morning. Sunlight sparkled off the freshly fallen snow that continued to flurry down as the sun cooly rose above the horizon. Tossing over to escape the light peaking through the window, Pepper rolled onto Tony's reserved half of the bed only to find it empty. With a groan, she rolled back over to find the time display. It was rather early for him to be awake; not even half past seven.

"_Miss Potts_," Jarvis chimed when he noticed her activity, "_Mr. Stark requests your company at your earliest connivence_."

Yawning, she roused from bed. "What's going on?"

"_He also requested my full discretion_."

She chuckled. A light shiver rumbled down her spine as she removed herself from beneath the warm covers. Pepper stuffed her arms into her silk robe and tied it tightly around her waist as soon as she reached it. "Would you mind turning the heat up, Jarvis? I don't want it to start snowing in here too."

"_Of course._"

Old holiday music lightly followed her down the hallway. Frank Sinatra, her favorite. Smiling to herself, Pepper ventured into the kitchen where she found her man slaving away over a collection of pans on the hot stove.

"What's all this?" she asked, shuffling into the room. Tony peaked his head up for a moment to shoot her a grin before returning his focus to the task at hand.

"This," he said, "is Christma- ah fuck." Pancake flipping was not his expertise. Half of the partially prepared pancake landed in the pan. The other half was not so lucky.

Pepper bit her lip to keep from laughing as she rounded the counter. "It looks like you could use some help with that."

"Nope! Everything is under control," he smirked, slinging his arm around her waist as he made another- this time marginally more successful- attempt at pancake flipping. Tony planted a kiss on her temple. "Merry Christmas," he whispered.

"Merry Christmas," she smiled. "So what tempted you to wake up so early and start breakfast?"

"It's our first Christmas! Well, not our first Christmas, but our first Christmas as a couple and y'know I thought it should be special." He shrugged. There was a growing stack of pancakes of various degrees of doneness beside a plate of cooling scrambled eggs with crisped bacon. Pepper looked genuinely impressed as she eyed the meal laid out before her.

"Well you certainly are off to a good start." She kissed his cheek softly before starting a pot of coffee. Christmas brew, of course.

Soon breakfast was finished- not to mention surprisingly delicious- and Tony had quickly dragged his girlfriend to the living room where the illuminated Christmas tree stood tall, brushing against the high ceiling of the room. On the floor by the crackling fire, Pepper rested her elbow on the couch as Tony sifted through the presents. A quick peak out of the frosted windows showed the snow had no plans for letting up any time soon. Pepper couldn't remember the last time she'd had a white Christmas. Not since she was a child. This was turning out to be a very special christmas after all.

A smile tugged at the corners of her lips as Tony's "Aha!" pulled her out of her thoughts, eyes returning to the tree.

"Hey, how did my presents for you get out here?" She recognized a thin rectangle with glossy red wrapping paper, the written message in her handwriting.

"Jarvis told me your hiding spot," he informed her with a smirk. "Don't worry, I didn't peak.

Pepper rolled her eyes, "Of course he did."

"_In my defense_," the AI chimed in, "_he did threaten to dismantle my circuit board if I did not comply._"

"Here, open this one," Tony said quickly. He handed her small box the size of her palm.

She accepted the present and began carefully unwrapping it reveal a white cardboard box beneath the candy cane striped paper. Oh? She quirked an eyebrow back up at Tony.

"Go on, open it."

Her fingers gently lifted off the top of the lid. Inside the box was a necklace, glowing blue, a circle of light no larger than a penny but immediately recognizable. "Oh Tony," she gasped.

"You'd be surprised how long that took to make," he grinned, moving behind her to help put it on. He took the clasps and gently brushed her hair out of the way. "Something about shrinking an already miniaturized device makes everything extremely difficult. Not so difficult it couldn't be done, of course. Do you like it?"

It was beautiful; a nearly exact replica of the reactor running his heart. She could even swear she heard it humming, lowly, barely even audibly.

"Like it? I love it. Tony, it's beautiful." The pendant fell just at her heart, swinging as she turned around to kiss him. "Thank you."

He pressed his lips to hers again. "You're very welcome."

"Mm, now it's your turn. Okay, don't laugh," Pepper told him while chuckling herself as she handed over the red wrapped box, "but when I saw it, I had to get it for you."

Tony tore off the paper, a bark of laughter escaping his lips as he revealed the Iron Man themed tie beneath the wrapping. "That is one stylish tie."

"I know it doesn't really compare to, well, this," she fingered the necklace and smiled softly at him, "but-"

"I love it," he grinned genuinely, chuckling again as he looked over the tie before he held it up to his neck. "What do you think? Next board meeting?"

Her smile widened. "Oh definitely."

With a sly smile, Tony pulled her onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her waist as he placed a kiss in the crook of her neck. "Thank you very much, Miss Potts."

"You're very welcome, Mr. Stark. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas."


End file.
